Master of Tokyo
by yangri
Summary: Oishi Ryoka is satisfied with her small apartment. She is content with her potted plants. She enjoys eating barbecue on the rooftop with her neighbors. Everything is well after a period of turmoil. But then Kuroo Tetsuro threatens to go down the same path she once did, and she must find it in herself to stop him.
1. New Neighbors

"… Oh, am I late?"

Haiba Alisa whirled around, pleasant surprise on her face. "Ryoka-chan! They're playing the third set against Karasuno right now—it's Karasuno's match point!"

"Eh?" Yamamoto Akane stared at the girl who had appeared, blinking. "Are you here to cheer Nekoma on, too?" She looked a little odd, in her opinion. Sure, it was January, but it wasn't _that _cold, was it? Especially inside the arena.

But whoever 'Ryoka-chan' was, she wore a large jacket, a surgical mask, and a baseball cap that engulfed all of her hair.

_Maybe she's sick, _Akane thought, nodding slightly at her own logic. "Hi," she decided to greet the stranger. "I'm Yamamoto Akane, and my brother is playing down there for Nekoma."

"Hn…" Ryoka's voice was muffled. "This is volleyball, right? I remember I played in middle school… Which uniform is Nekoma again?"

As Alisa pointed out their team, Akane kept trying to sneak glances at Ryoka's strange appearance. Was she, perhaps, a celebrity undercover? Alisa seemed like the kind to be acquainted with all sorts of people, even socialites.

Then—

On the court, the ball, slick with perspiration, slipped out of Kenma's fingers.

_Ah._

* * *

**Several months ago...**

Everything started when Haiba Lev and Haiba Alisa's parents died in an accident. Their house was sold and the dejected siblings—one nineteen and the other one barely sixteen—rented out a place in a homely apartment block in a brand new neighborhood. It was paid for by their uncle, who was rather distant and only supported them out of familial obligation. Alisa could still continue her plans to study in Tokyo University while juggling a part time job and looking after Lev.

Most of their nights consisted of takeaway dinner and the glow of a cheap television set.

"Please no."

"But they're our new neighbors! I mean yours, technically, but same difference."

Oishi Ryoka lived one floor above the Haiba siblings, and most of her space was taken up by potted plants of all sorts. She was just lucky she hadn't been born with any allergies and that there weren't many bees in the city. Udai Tenma lived in a separate apartment block right opposite hers. If she wanted to, she was able to stretch her leg across and climb into his apartment. It worked vice versa.

Right now, the pair of them were standing in front of Number 28, which belonged to Lev and Alisa.

"Hn."

"They've been here for almost a week," Udai went on. "It would only be the neighborly thing to do."

"What's with you and your weird obsession with being friendly?"

Udai merely laughed before rapping his knuckles on the door.

After a few moments, it clicked open, and a very, very tall boy stood in the door frame. He blinked once. Twice. Lev beamed. "This must be our first noise complaint!"

_Eh? _Ryoka, wearing a surgical mask over her face, coughed into it. "You are completely wrong," she told him bluntly. "Why would you even think that? What's wrong with you?"

"Lyovochka? Who's that at the door~?"

"Some neighbors came to complain."

Ryoka deadpanned at him. "Did you even hear me?"

"Ah, hey!" Udai took over from her, practically shoving her out of the way. "We're _not_ here to complain, actually." He tilted his head slightly at the appearance of the boy's older sister. She was beautiful, certainly, but there was a rather haggard air about her, as if she had been working too hard with little rest. If she had any eye bags, they were not visible—probably hidden under makeup. "My name is Udai Tenma, and this is Oishi Ryoka. We're your new neighbors. Um, we're actually have a barbecue on the rooftop. Do you want to join us? It'll be a good opportunity to get to know one another. Right, Ryoka-san?"

"Hn."

"Don't mind her," Udai quickly talked over her noncommittal grunt with ease, smiling. "She's just bad at communicating."

Lev inched in close, making Udai lean back a little, a bead of sweat forming down his temple. "You're quite the easygoing guy, aren't you?"

Udai rubbed the back of his head, grinning. "Eheh... is that so?"

"A barbecue!" It was as if Ryoka was witnessing a personality change right in front of her when Alisa perked up, clapping her hands together. "We'd love to, right, Lyovochka?"

"What kind of meat do you have?" Lev asked rather nosily on the way up, Alisa locking the door behind her.

"Hn," said Ryoka, keeping her gaze forward.

"Hn meat? Hello? Are you there?"

"I don't think I really like you."

"At least you're not totally ignoring me! I don't really get why some guys are into that."

"Hn."

While Lev bothered Ryoka with incessant chatter, Udai and Alisa were seemingly getting along better.

"Are there going to be other people, or just us?" Alisa asked with a smile.

Udai returned her smile politely. "There are a few others, but I'm sure we'll get along just fine. We do this often to reinforce our neighborly values."

"There you go again with your 'love thy neighbor' talks," Ryoka said from behind them. "There's something wrong with you."

Lev scratched his head. "You think there's something wrong with everyone, don't you? How cynical, Oishi-senpai."

"It's not cynicism—merely truth. Also, please don't stand over me like that."

"I can't help it!"

When they emerged onto the rooftop, the barbecue was just getting started, a tall bearded man standing over the grill and wafting smoke away with one broad hand. Udai called out to him, "Yo, Higuchi-san!"

Higuchi wasn't the only one there. There was a bespectacled woman in her late twenties, a tired-looking teenage boy, and a fat balding man in a singlet and shorts who was the type that had his eyes seemingly perpetually closed. He was probably the oldest one there, around sixty, and doing that elderly people thing where they exponentially expand sideways.

Lev greeted everyone. "Hi! We're your new neighbors—please take care of us!"

Alisa echoed the greeting, giving a small wave. "Hello, everyone~! It's nice to meet you all."

After some polite bowing, everyone got settled down.

Lev immediately zeroed in on the only other person his age—the exhausted teenager. His name was Igarashi Kojiro, and he had white-blond hair that fell over his face a little. "What school do you go to?"

"Tokyo University," he answered, blinking sleepily. "You?"

"Gwah?! You're in university already?! I thought you were my age!"

"Oh my!" Alisa gushed, oblivious to her brother's awe. "I'm starting there this April~!" Though she didn't show it, she was inwardly jittery with excitement. This was much preferred than spending the night watching TV and lazing around in her own depression. She was generally an extroverted person, and being around people recharged her batteries.

"Cool," said the not-teenager. "I'm a second year."

Lev butted in again, unable to believe what he was hearing. "You're older than my sister?! So... you're... Igarashi-_senpai_?!"

"You said you thought I was your age," said Igarashi, eyes a little wider. "Does that mean you're...?"

"Sixteen."

"Wow. You're a giant. I can't even tell your nationality, actually. But you speak Japanese very well..."

"He was born and raised here," Alisa explained. "We're both half-Russian."

While Alisa and Lev made conversation with Igarashi, Ryoka was taking small sips of her lychee soda, her mask pulled down to expose the bottom half of her face. Higuchi Yozo was in charge of grilling the meat, and the smell of it was making her hungry. Noticing her expression, Nagano Sonoko, the only other woman besides Alisa and Ryoka, grinned. She was holding a bottle of sake in one hand that was already half drained.

"Hungry?" teased Sonoko, pushing her glasses up a little.

"Hn. A little. How's the shoe business going?" Ryoka inquired politely.

"I'm an accountant."

"Ah. I forgot."

"You were half right, technically." Sonoko shrugged, used to her bluntness. "I work as an accountant at a sports shoes company. Right now, we're getting lots of sales, particularly in the volleyball shoes department."

"Sounds fun."

"It puts me in a coma whenever I get back home."

"... Sounds fun."

Sonoko's lips quirked upward. "Comas are fun?"

Ryoka shrugged. "Maybe?"

"Did somebody say coma?" Omori Yasunobu waddled up to them, beaming. "My great-great-grandson is in a coma."

"Oh no," Ryoka offered halfheartedly.

"Really?" Alisa gasped. "Oh, no, that's terrible..."

Sonoko sweatdropped. "How can you say that so happily, old man...?"

"You can relax," Higuchi called from the barbecue, talking mostly to Alisa. "Omori-san is fond of petty jokes like this."

Omori laughed. "Ohoho! What a manly man you are, Higuchi."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

But Omori just laughed his question off. It was then that Alisa noticed that most of the lines on his face were from laughing, not frowning. It made a small smile appear on her lips.

Igarashi passed Alisa some beer. "Here."

"Thank you, Igarashi-senpai!"

The smallest blush appeared on his cheeks as he cracked his own can of beer open. "... You can call me Kojiro-senpai... if you want..."

Alisa giggled. "Kojiro-senpai it is then!"

"Can I have a sip?" Lev grabbed at the can of beer in Alisa's hands.

"Not yet, Lyovochka~!"

"Ah." Udai stood up abruptly. "I just remembered—I have a box of cup noodles in my apartment I got on sale. We can all share them—it'll go well with the barbecue."

"Be careful," Ryoka warned as Udai stretched his legs.

Lev sat up a little. "What's he doing?"

"Show-off," Higuchi scoffed, though it was more good-natured ribbing than intentional malice. "I swear, you look for more and more excuses to go jumping around."

"Oi," Udai turned back to him, "It's fun, okay? Sometimes my legs start to cry. They say to me: 'Udai-kun! Why aren't you stretching us like you used to?'"

Ryoka stared at him. "There's something wrong with you."

Udai flashed a thumbs up before making a running start. Then, much to Alisa's horror and Lev's surprise, he jumped off the roof, landing on his feet with a thud on the building next door. "You can relax!" he shouted from the adjacent rooftop. "Even Ryoka-san can do it."

"Don't make me sound like some pushover. My legs are longer than yours, you know."

Udai tutted. "It's not all about height. I know that better than anyone." With that, he disappeared into the door that led to the interior of his apartment building. A few minutes later, he was back, carrying the box of cup noodles he had promised. "Hup!" He crossed with ease. "There, nothing so scary, right?"

"Uwaah!" Lev was all up in his face in moments. "Are you a basketball player or something?! You jump so high for someone so short!"

"Geh? Is that so..." Udai straightened. "I was a volleyball player in high school."

"Volleyball? Is it fun?"

They all fell quiet then. The only sound was Higuchi sizzling the meat, which was nearly done. Sonoko and Omori stared at Udai, awaiting his response. Udai let out a huff. "Now what's with all the silence? It's not like I have a dark past or anything."

It was Omori's turn to huff. "Are you kidding, kid? You never tell us anything about yourself, so we all assumed."

"Ah. Well, I'm pretty normal."

Ryoka's gaze flicked to him for a brief moment.

"Now!" Udai declared, "Let's get this barbecue started!"

"YEAH!" Lev was the only one who cheered, forgetting that the rest of his companions weren't high schoolers. Or were they? He couldn't really tell with Ryoka, even without her mask, and he wasn't going to make another embarrassing mistake like with Igarashi.

Sonoko cleared her throat. "Um, Udai-san?"

"Yes?"

"We don't have a kettle."

Udai's smile slipped off his face. He stared at the instant noodles despondently. "Oh. Ohhh..."

All of them except Ryoka chorused at once, "Don't mind, don't mind!"

"I'm such a failure!"

"Nooo!"

"You're not a failure," Ryoka opined quietly, her voice drowned out by the multitude of other voices. Omori and Higuchi could be particularly loud. _If you're a failure, then I must be something far beyond that._

After all—

_I had it all._

After all—

_I lost it all._

_But I_—

—_am content with it._

* * *

_He never answered my question. _Haiba Lev's first year in Nekoma was sure to be a good one. He had already made friends with some of his classmates, though he noticed that many of the girls tended to shy away from him. Probably due to his height, but no matter. If he wanted a girlfriend, it'd be someone who wasn't intimidated by the way he towered over them. _Is volleyball fun or not?_

"Ne, Haiba-kun!" one of the few girls that wasn't scared of him said. "What kind of club are you thinking of joining? With your height, you'd do really well in basketball or volleyball!"

"I'm not really interested in basketball," replied Lev, thinking. "But volleyball... is it fun?"

"Eh?" The girl blinked. "Well, I don't know. I don't play it."

"Huh. Okay then. That was useless."

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

"I'm gonna go find someone with useful information."

"Hey!"

As luck would have it, it was lunchtime now, so he wandered off absently in a halfhearted search for someone who had the answer to his question. Everywhere he went, he got lots of stares and whispers due to his novelty—it wasn't every day someone walked down the halls with a height of over six feet and obviously foreign features.

"Hey, you!" Lev caught up to someone wearing a sports uniform. "Is volleyball fun?"

"Ehhhh?" A member of the tennis club stared at him in confusion. "How on earth would I know? Can't you read the back of my jersey?"

"Huh? Oh, tennis? Oh, wrong guy then. You can go."

"I don't need your permission, but okay."

The next person he hassled was a girl. "Is volleyball fun?" Lev demanded, bending his neck and looking her straight in the eye.

"Um. I don't do volleyball," she muttered, sweatdropping.

"Huh? Then why are you wearing a sports uniform?"

"Are you joking or something? I just had PE! Not everyone who wears a sports uniform plays volleyball, weirdo!"

"Oohh. Then why didn't you go change?"

"Where do you think I'm heading off to right now?!"

"Right, right." Unfazed, Lev left the fuming girl in search of his next potential informer.

On the third year floor, Yaku Morisuke was sipping from a milk carton when some of his classmates entered the room, discussing something. They stopped by at his table.

"Hey," one of the boys, a plain-looking brown-haired fellow called Etsuji, addressed him. "Yaku-san, there's some guy in your club harassing the first years."

"Huh?" Yaku raised an eyebrow. _Who on earth could that be? _"Who is it?"

Etsuji shrugged. "Beats me. Some tall guy who looks like he doesn't know how to speak Japanese. I think he has white hair."

"But he actually does," one of Etsuji's friends piped up. "Or else he wouldn't be going around making a nuisance of himself."

"Yeah, anyway. You should probably stop him, Yaku-san, before something bad happens."

_A tall guy who looks like a foreigner? _Yaku was stumped. Sure, there were plenty of tall guys on Nekoma's volleyball team, but none of them looked particularly foreign. "Sure, I'll check it out." He stood anyway. Even if this harasser wasn't in his club (and he probably wasn't), he was bringing a bad name to Nekoma's volleyball club. He needed to be stopped, effectively immediately. "He's on the first floor, right?" They all nodded. Well then.

Yaku was making his way down the stairs in a semi-hurried pace when he caught wind of some gossip between a couple who were climbing up.

"Did you hear about that first year?"

"Yeah! My friend told me he's flipping skirts up."

"Nah, no way. An upperclassman said that he's going around asking people to fight him."

_Who is this guy? _Yaku thought dryly as he passed them. _Some kind of dangerous Yamamoto mutation? _An image of Yamomoto the body of an enlarged cicada invaded his mind, and his lifted his hand to his mouth as he tried to quell a snort.

Whoever he was, though, he moved fast. Yaku had almost searched the entire first floor up and down before he finally encountered the _'tall guy who looks like he doesn't know how to speak Japanese'_. And it was in the act, too—he was terrorizing a poor first year girl.

"Oi!" Yaku called sharply, marching up to him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The first year girl gulped, taking the opportunity to run away. But not before wailing, "I don't know anything, I swear! I swear on my grandmother's life!"

Lev stared at Yaku for a solid five seconds before shouting after the first year girl, "Does your grandmother play volleyball?!" He made to go after her, but Yaku grabbed his wrist.

"Are you crazy?" Again, Lev stared at the short guy who was holding his wrist. From an outsider's perspective, they probably looked like parent and child. Or perhaps parent and adopted child would suit them more. "Oi. Look at me. Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Wow," Lev said aloud, totally abrupt in his delivery. "You're really short!"

There was a long pause.

Then—

"Gack!"

Yaku had kneed him in the stomach.

* * *

It was lunchtime practice when everybody noticed that Yaku was nowhere to be seen. Kuroo Tetsuro briefly glanced at the doors to the gym, waiting for their libero to show up. But he never did.

"Hey," the bed-head captain said to Kai Nobuyuki, "Aren't we missing a certain somebody?" He raised his arm to somewhere around his torso. "He's like this tall, you know?"

"I'm sure Yaku will show up soon," the vice-captain replied, sweatdropping a little at Kuroo's description.

And he did, with someone else in tow.

The gym doors opened with a slam, and Kenma nearly dropped his PSP in shock.

A fuming Yaku dragged a silver-haired stranger by the ear and practically threw him on the floor. "Apologize!"

"Oya?" Kuroo cocked a brow. "What's this, hm?" At his words, the entire volleyball team started crowding Lev—who was prostrating frantically and looking rather bewildered by the whole experience—like a hoard of cats surrounding injured prey.

"This guy," Yaku's voice was like splintering ice, "has been making us lose face thanks to his idiocy!"

"I said I was sorry!" Lev protested for the first time, lifting his head up from his prostrating.

"Only after I kicked you! And you should be apologizing to everyone here!"

"Yaku-san, you kicked someone?"

"Shut up, Yamamoto! This guy is a felon! Now the entire school thinks all we do here is flip skirts and pick fights!" At the end of his outburst, Yaku was red-faced and panting hard.

_Ah. Something else is up. Or he wouldn't be this dramatic, _Kuroo deduced. "Hey, why are you so mad? Did he call your short or something? Haha."

Yaku was silent.

Kuroo blinked, a lazy grin slowly crawling onto his features. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"What's this about skirt flipping?" Kenma deadpanned. "Shouldn't we be more concerned about that?"

"I didn't flip any skirts!" Lev cried.

"Okay, okay." Kuroo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Calm down everyone, your captain is here to take charge. First of all, who are you and how did you manage to trigger one of Yaku's buttons so quickly?"

Kenma shot him a glance. "That's hardly taking control of the situation."

"Shh. I got this, Kenma. Also, you can get up. It's weird talking to someone all the way down there." Yaku's jaw clenched ever so slightly. "Calm down, I didn't mean you," Kuroo tacked on at the end, glancing over to Yaku.

Lev brushed off his pants as he stood before straightening. "My name is Haiba Lev, and I live in a cramped apartment with a futon that's too short for me so the top half of my body is always cold. And I eat instant noodles for breakfast every day!"

"He's trying to get us to pity him," Kenma figured out immediately. "He's not very subtle, though."

Kuroo was kind. "Points for trying."

Lev gratefully accepted his praise. "Thank you!"

"Are you both idiots?!" Yaku snapped, temper flaring once more.

As Kuroo guffawed, Kenma's eyes dropping down to his PSP once more, Lev looked around in confusion. Now that he was standing up, the group of boys didn't seem to be as intimidating as before. Most of them looked friendly enough, though there was this one guy with a blond mohawk that was making threatening faces at him. Also, everybody was shorter than him, so that was a plus.

"So, Lev," Kuroo drawled. "What exactly were you doing before Yaku here arrested you for your so-called felony?"

"Nothing! I was just asking around for something I really wanted to know."

"Oya? And what's that?"

Lev grinned. "Whether volleyball is fun or not. But nobody could give me an answer."

"Is that so? Well then..." Kuroo held out a ball to him, smirking. _With his height, he would make a good addition to the team._ "How about you find out yourself?"

_Uwaah! _The first years of the club were blown away. _He's so cool! _Even Yamamoto was impressed, trying to figure out in his head how to incorporate such aura when approaching girls (which he would never put into practice, but dreams didn't hurt anyone, did they?).

Yaku's brow lowered as Lev and Kuroo stared each other off.

"No thanks."

Kuroo almost fell over at Lev's declination. "Wait, what? Are you kidding me? Tell me you're joking, please." _Even after all that?! Am I losing my touch or something?_

"Nope." Lev blinked at him. "If I wanted to look for it myself, I would have looked it up online. I can't believe you would want to make me study. Sheesh. How boring."

_Stu...dy? _Kuroo stared at him. Then he shook his head, almost falling over. "Wait a minute! Are you some kind of idiot? Nobody's making you study anything."

"Oh? Then what do you want me to do?"

Yaku finally snapped. "You dumbass! He's inviting you to join the club so you can actually play volleyball!"

"Really?!"

Kenma paused his game, sighing. "I can't believe this."

"Oi, oi, you trying to pick a fight or something?" Yamamoto put his hands up. "You're spitting on the sanctity of the Nekoma volleyball club!"

Lev gasped. "This is the volleyball club?!"

Kuroo gaped at him. "What's wrong with you? Is there something wrong with you? There's gotta be something wrong with you."

"Hey, I got asked that the other day, too."

"Then clearly something's wrong! You obviously have some kind of chemical imbalance in your brain influencing your cognitive functions! Have you been eating enough fish?"

"I eat instant noodles every day."

A vein popped in Kuroo's cheek. "Right! I forgot you're poor!"

"Don't shout it like that," Kenma advised him.

In the end, Lev ended up not joining after all.

* * *

"Hey, is there something wrong with me?" Lev asked when he stood before Udai on his rooftop.

Udai considered it. Then he asked in return, "How did you get up here without the key?"

"Oh, it was locked?" Lev looked back at the door. "I just twisted the doorknob really hard. I thought it was just jammed."

"Are you telling me you just destroyed private property?"

"... Maybe?"

"Then yes. There's probably something wrong with you." Udai patted him on the back when he pouted. "But don't worry, it happens to the best of us."

* * *

_**A/N: Welcome to another disaster that I'll probably never finish, especially with all my other projects on the plate. But don't worry, if it burns and crashes then we can all say that we were expecting it.**_

_**It's OC-centric and if it goes right, eventual OC/Kuroo, though it may not seem like that. I just had to write this when my love for Haikyuu! was reignited recently. Probably the exam stress, y'know?**_

_**Anyway, here's a list of all minor canon characters and OCs that show up:**_

_**Udai Tenma - the (SPOILERS) canonical Small Giant; as in he's not an OC; lives in the apartment block next to Oishi's**_

_**Oishi Ryoka - the main character who's too Uchiha-like for most people to like her; lives in Lev's apartment block; OC**_

_**Haiba Lev - cute half-Russian boy who's a bit slow at first; canon**_

_**Haiba Alisa - cute half-Russian boy's hot sister; canon**_

_**Igarashi Kojiro - cute blond guy who's actually in uni and seems perpetually sleepy; OC**_

_**Higuchi Yozo - manly man who lives in Lev's apartment block; he pulls off that beard pretty nicely; OC**_

_**Nagano Sonoko - unmarried woman who works as an accountant for a sports shoe company; seems to have a chip on her shoulder about something but nobody can really tell what; OC**_

_**Omori Yasunobu - a balding old guy in his sixties who has a rather warped sense of humor, including joking about his great-great-grandson being in a coma (does he even have a great-great-grandson? probably not, he's way too young); OC**_


	2. Leader Lev

_**A/N: Lev wants to be leader, but he's well aware that he won't be if he joins Nekoma. Knowing this, he comes up with his own solution. Or tries, at any rate.**_

* * *

"Hm? Hmmmm? Hmmmmmmm?"

Igarashi Kojiro was always grateful for days without any lectures of classes. It meant that he could finally get on top of his work and catch a few winks if he still had time. Nothing new really happened, but he didn't mind it. A slow-paced, mundane life was much preferred to a busy, fast-paced one. So he found himself at a little bit of a loss when he went down to the lobby's convenience store to buy a soda only to meet a strange group of guys.

_Are they... _Igarashi stared at the guy standing furthest in front. He had hair kind of like a rooster's crest. Odd. _Gangsters? Yakuza? What the hell? Why are they here? Who are they? I want to go home, but they're taking so long at the cashier. _The uni student let out a sigh, drawing the attention of the most delinquent looking guy in the group, who had a blonde mohawk.

"Hey, let's ask this guy!" Yamamoto suggested. "You live around here, yeah?"

Igarashi blinked slowly. "Uh. Yeah?"

"Huh? So do you live here or not?"

"... I live here, yes."

Feeling a little bad for Igarashi, Kuroo nudged Yamamoto aside. "Ah. Excuse him, he doesn't know manners."

"Hey!"

"Shut up, Yamamoto."

"You really need to learn some basic human decency."

"Says you."

Igarashi coughed.

"Right. Anyway." Kuroo gave him his best smile. "Does Haiba Lev-san live here?"

"Huh? Haiba?" Igarashi studied the teenager in front of him closely. _Let's see, Nekoma High School uniforms... That's where Lev-san goes to, right? Hold on a second?! _An image of the boys in front of him beating up Lev, who was curled into a ball, entered his mind. _Holy shit! Are they out__ for blood?! That kid really is too blunt for his own good after all. It's only been a week since the school term started and he's already made enemies?!_

Kuroo didn't seem to be of aware of Igarashi's internal panic. "Oh, so you do know him?" _That's great_—_I thought we got the wrong place for a second._

Igarashi narrowed his eyes at him. He slowly placed down his soda, lowering his chin and accentuating the dark circles around his eyes as he did so. "Oi. If I go missing, people will notice."

"Huh?"

"Wait," Yaku cut in. "Who exactly do you think we are?"

_Crap, that's such a gangster thing to say! These guys are the real deal! _Igarashi tried to gather his confidence to sneer at them, but it was halfhearted at best. "I may not look it, but I'm actually pretty popular. If you kill me, fine. But I'm going to be missed." _This is for you, Alisa-chan. I'm about to go down in a blaze of glory!_

"Do you think we're gangsters or something?!"

"Aren't you?!"

Kuroo deadpanned at Igarashi. "It's like everyone who lives here doesn't eat fish."

"You can't just assume fish is responsible for people being stupid or smart," Kenma pointed out, not taking his eyes off his PSP.

The cashier glanced at both parties, looking slightly freaked out.

Then the double doors opened, and Ryoka walked in, wearing her surgical mask, humongous coat, and a baseball cap that she had shoved all of her long hair under somehow. As soon as she saw Igarashi and the Nekoma students, she paused, her thumb hovering over her phone screen.

"Is this a mugging?" were the first things to emerge from her mouth.

"NO!" all of them shouted at once, the cashier ducking under the counter.

"... Hn." With that, she brushed past them, grabbing a cup of spicy ramen and proceeding to stand behind Igarashi for her turn. As she waited, she counted the amount of money she had in her wallet.

There was a beat.

Ryoka glanced up, staring flatly at Igarashi. "Did you think they were out to get you or something?"

"... Yes?"

"What's wrong with you? How many hours do you sleep? Never mind, I know it's less than five, so don't bother answering."

"Ahem! A_hem_!" Kuroo cleared his throat rather obnoxiously, grinning lazily at the girl. "Do you know where we could find Haiba Lev? We're not here to beat him up or anything, I promise."

Ryoka stared at him. "The fact that you need to say that last part makes me anxious for his and my safety."

"For the last time!" Yaku insisted. "We're not gangsters! We're Nekoma's volleyball club, and we just want to sort out some misunderstandings and recruit him." Not all of their members were here today—just Yaku, Kuroo (which automatically meant Kenma; they practically came as a pair), and Yamamoto. He looked back at Yamamoto. _Maybe we should have left him behind._

Yamamoto flinched. "What's with that look?"

Yaku turned back, chuckling a little into his hand. "Nothing."

"Is that so?" Ryoka cocked her head a little, the action purely feline. "Well, just follow me then."

"Thanks very much!" the volleyball team members chorused.

"Um, excuse me," piped the cashier. "I've finished scanning all your things. Igarashi-san, perhaps you should take a nap when you get back."

"Ugh." Igarashi grunted. "I was planning to anyway. In fact, if they weren't here, I'd be conked out by now."

As they all left the store, Ryoka said to Igarashi, "Does uni really not let you sleep for more than six hours?"

"For me, no. I don't know how everyone else does it."

"Oho? Uni?" Kuroo butted in, "And here I thought you were a high schooler like us."

"I get that a lot. You must be glad you dropped out of school, Oishi-san."

Ryoka gave him a look. "Don't say it like that."

"Ah, sorry. It's the sleep deprivation." They took an elevator to the second floor, where Ryoka led the Nekoma team out. Igarashi stayed behind, his apartment on the fourth floor.

There was an awkward silence with Ryoka around. But nonetheless, Yaku attempted to make conversation anyway. "Did you really drop out of school?" It was a bit blunt of him, but he was too curious.

"Hn. Business."

He took it as a yes. "For business?"

"None of _your_ business."

"Right. Sorry."

Kuroo and Yaku shared a glance, and even Kenma had put his console back into his pocket and was paying closer to attention to the strange girl who wore so many layers despite it being a warm spring day.

Finally, they stopped at Number 28. "Here," Ryoka said as she turned to walk back to the elevator.

"Thank you!" Kuroo called after her out of politeness. He got no response. Not even a grunt. Shrugging, he went on to knock on the door. Some moments later, Lev answered.

"Oh?!" the white-haired boy gasped.

"Is that really all you have to say?" Yaku said, dryly.

"Ohhh?!"

"Dragging it out doesn't change your obvious lack of articulation!"

* * *

Ryoka liked plants. It was a given, really, seeing as plants were practically crawling over every nook and cranny of her apartment. The two largest items she had were a keyboard and a bookshelf, and those, too, had some kind of succulent sitting on them.

Plants were like the friends she wanted. They would not judge her and were great listeners. If only they could respond to her—then they would be perfect. At some point, she had considered getting a pet, but they were too messy for her tastes. Not to mention when it inevitably passed away, she would spent a week curled in her kotatsu and surviving on junk food and a bedpan.

So she tutted when she opened the windows to find that some nasty birds had pecked apart the flowers on her windowsill.

There was a muffled noise from the lower floor.

Frowning, she kicked at the floor. _What are those boys up to?_

Another thud.

Half an hour later, her spicy ramen had been devoured and she was feeling thirsty for something tropical and sweet. _I should have bought a drink while I was there... now I have to put on those clothes again. _Impatiently, she threw on her clothing, not caring if they were crumpled. The last addition was her surgical mask—she forewent the baseball cap this time around; she wasn't bothered and everyone would still be at work this time of day.

So she opened the door—

"OOPS!"

_What the hell_—_?!_

Lev was standing in front of her door. He was carrying a carbonated drink in a cup. Calpis, it seemed like. The glass was half full. Ryoka glanced down at her coat, which had a large wet patch on the front.

"I hate you," she told him.

"I didn't mean to! We were having snacks at my place and I just wanted to ask you to come. Also, sorry. That was supposed to go into your stomach, not onto your clothing. You surprised me when you opened the door."

"Apology not accepted. Also, who stands in front of the door like a creep?"

"I was about to knock."

"Pick a better timing then." Rudely, Ryoka shoved past him with a grumble, the wet patch on her coat most definitely unsightly.

"You look like a hobo," Lev opined. "With that wet circle on your coat."

Ryoka paused. Then she whipped around abruptly, a gleam in her gray eyes. "What? Wait, really? Are you serious? You're not shitting with me, right?"

"Eh? I'm serious."

_This will not do! _She glared at him. "This is all your fault."

"Just take it off or something."

"Can't. I'm wearing a short-sleeved shirt underneath."

"So? It's spring, anyway, so it's not cold at all."

She snarled. "Listen to me! Unless you can procure a solution for this problem, then I'm not letting you leave! Well?"

Lev glared at her. "What's your problem, lady?"

"_You're_ my problem!"

"Is everything alright here?"

Ryoka and Lev both turned their heads to the side to see Kuroo approaching them, hands in his pockets.

"You were taking too long," Kuroo explained, gaze flicking from Lev to Ryoka. "What's this all about, hm?"

"He spilled a drink on me," Ryoka spat. "And now I can't go out. It'll have to be washed, or I'll... I'll look like a hobo!"

A long silence stretched between all of them. Then Kuroo and Lev exchanged a glance, their eyebrows raised to their hairlines.

Kuroo grinned obnoxiously. "Is that all? Here I thought you were the cool and composed type."

"Listen, _pal_." His smirk disappeared when he realized just how serious she was being, her entire body trembling with barely contained rage. "_You_ may not take this seriously, but _I_ do. There's a laundromat opposite the street. My other clothes should be done washing by now, so go tell them that Oishi Ryoka-san sent you."

"Eh? As if!" Lev protested. "It was just an accident, and you look fine!"

"That wasn't what you were saying before! I—"

"Okay, look." Kuroo put up his hands in surrender. "Since there's obviously some underlying issue here, we'll do it. Just this once. Right, Lev?"

"Ehhhh?" the silver-haired boy whined. "But why?"

"Because I said so."

So Lev and Kuroo went off, Ryoka glaring sourly after them before going back inside her apartment and slamming the door shut.

"You caved easily," Lev observed. "Why?"

Kuroo kept his gaze forward. "Because she reminds me of Kenma. And not in a good way."

* * *

This weekend, another night barbecue on the roof was taking place, and Lev found himself lounging on his futon in front of the television while waiting for Alisa, who was doing her makeup in the bathroom.

He was reading a magazine that he had picked up from the lobby convenience store—a sports magazine that had the latest news about Japan's national sports teams, including the volleyball one.

"Lyovochka," Alisa said from the bathroom. "Have you decided what club you're joining yet?"

"Nope," Lev replied, flipping another page. "I mean, I have a few in mind, but I'm torn between two clubs..."

Finally, she poked her head out of the bathroom. "Which ones?" She wore a moderate amount of makeup, not thick but not light either. If she had known there was a barbecue tonight, she wouldn't have wiped off her face earlier.

"The volleyball club and the fried chicken club."

"Fried chicken club?"

"Uh huh."

When Alisa was ready, they took their conversation to the hall. "Well, I guess just choose whichever one makes you the happiest~"

Lev nodded, rubbing his chin as he considered his choices. _Yummy food... or running around after a ball? Hmm..._

They were among the first to arrive; Udai was setting up a portable grill, Ryoka standing behind him and holding a can of gas. To the left of them was Igarashi, who instantly lit up when he spotted the siblings—or, rather, Alisa. He was holding a box of something.

"You look good," the blond said a little shyly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Aw," Alisa cooed. "You're too kind~!"

"What about me?" Lev butted in, blocking Igarashi's view of his sister.

"Uh, you look good, too..."

Next to arrive was Nagano Sonoko, who had brought with her some meat she had purchased from a shop across the street. She was still in her work clothes—white blouse, black blazer, black pencil skirt, high heels—looking just like how she had been the first time the Haiba siblings had attended the barbecue. She smiled, her cheeks lifting up her thin-framed glasses ever so slightly. "I bought these from the Korean store!" she announced. "Pre-marinated and twenty-percent less fat."

Udai scratched his head. "But the fat's the best part."

"Yeah, well, any more of it and you'll end up with a clogged artery," Sonoko shot back.

"Hey! I am perfectly in shape—"

"Tenma-san, the grill."

"I _know_, Ryoka-san—"

As the grill was set up, Igarashi, Alisa, and Lev sat in a circle and talked. It was mostly Alisa that did the talking, asking Igarashi about how he was doing managing his classes and assignments, with Lev merely clutching a can of soda that Igarashi had given him. Alisa and the blond both had beers.

"Hey kids!" Sonoko greeted as she approached them. "How's school?"

"Did you really just ask that?" groaned Igarashi, stifling a yawn. "You're not _that_ old—you can't be seriously asking us that."

"_Old_?" Sonoko's jaw slackened.

"Is that the only word you heard?!"

"I am _only_ twenty-eight, you damn—"

"Our mom had me at twenty-eight!" exclaimed Lev, excited to finally be joining the conversation. Pleased with himself, he slurped his soda, grinning.

Sonoko's eye twitched. "Unmarried...? Christmas cake...? No children...? Alone... a slave to my salary... for the rest of my life...?"

"No, no, no one said any of that!" Igarashi insisted. "Lev-san, you need to think before you talk!"

Alisa was smiling to herself. "Isn't this wonderful~?"

Hastily, Igarashi opened up the box he'd been holding, revealing a batch of fried chicken wings and drumsticks. "H-here!" He held it out to Sonoko as if were offering a sacrifice to appease a demon.

The woman growled as if she were possessed, snatching a drumstick and proceeding to devour it, tears comically running down her face. "I'm not old, dammit, I'm not old...!"

* * *

"Ehhh? Practice match already?" Lev cocked his head as Kuroo gave him smarmy grin. "But I haven't even chosen yet..."

"So?" Kuroo shrugged. "Volleyball waits for no one. Just thought I should tell you—it's at Gym Five. If you want to see, you can come."

"Ah... right..." Lev stared after the volleyball captain as he sauntered down the hall, then unfurled the balled up flyer he had torn from a random cork board. The chicken on the poster ogled him in return, expression bland, and something—perhaps regret—pulled at his heart. Unfortunately, school rules stated that one student could only belong to one club at a time, so two-timing was out of the question.

Reaching into the left pocket of his school slacks, he fished out his application form for the fried chicken club, which had been completely filled out. He thought back to the other day, when Igarashi had brought a box of fried chicken to the barbecue—thought back to how good it had smelled and how his belly had rumbled and moaned.

But he hadn't quite been brave enough to tentatively ask Sonoko if she were willing to share. He had seen murder in those eyes.

"Argh!" Squatting in the middle of the hallway and getting strange looks from his fellow students who were trying to go home, Lev clutched at his head, which was starting to ache. "Both choices are so good!"

"Oh, really? What are they~?"

Lev looked up to see a sleepy-looking girl with reddish brown hair staring down at his hunched form with amusement in her eyes. "Fried chicken and volleyball."

"Ohh... I totally get it."

"You do?"

The girl smiled. "Yeah. It's like deciding which _Kalbee _chip is better. The zesty zing of _Consomme Punch_, or the simplicity of _Lightly Salted_? Anyone would get a headache deciding. And don't even get me started when you introduce more extravagant flavors into the mix like _Sour Cream and Onion_."

Lev's eyes widened. "Right! Every time I go to the convenient store, I always get stuck in the chip aisle!"

"Understandable, understandable." As he stood, her sleepy-face got a little more awake upon realizing just how much he towered over her. "Are you an ancient giant from times of long ago?" At his confused blinking, she tacked on, "It's okay. Not all of us are cultured. Are you on a sports team?"

"No. Didn't I just tell you I was trying to choose between fried chicken and volleyball?"

"Oh, so they were clubs? Mou, the way you said it, I was expecting something like..." The girl squinted, rubbing her chin. "'Should I eat some beautiful, delicious fried chicken at a super expensive restaurant or buy a volleyball for my four-year-old cousin instead'?"

"Th-that's a bit of a stretch!"

She laughed. "Maybe so, maybe so. Well, for me, I would definitely choose fried chicken. But most, if not all, of the boys on my team would choose otherwise."

"Team?" Now that Lev thought about it, she was wearing a tracksuit that definitely wasn't Nekoma-colored.

"Yes. I'm the manager for Fukurodani Academy's boys team, Shirofuku Yukie. We're playing a practice match against Nekoma today~"

"Oh?" They began to walk together, Lev shoving his application form and fried chicken club flyer into his bag. "Why aren't you in the gym, then?"

"Ahaha~ I came out to get a drink from the vending machines. They should be doing warm-ups right now, anyway, so I won't be missed too much." Like a loyal cat or dog, Lev waited patiently as Shirofuku narrowed her eyes at the drink machine, trying to decide between strawberry soda or an aloe vera drink. "Ahh..." Slowly, she sank into a squat not too dissimilar to Lev's from before. "This is so hard."

"Want me to choose?" volunteered Lev.

"You know what? Go ahead, it'll probably relieve some of the stress in my heart right now."

He chose the aloe vera drink, which she happily took, unscrewing the cap with her teeth.

"So what's your name, tall fry?"

"Haiba Lev!"

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Lev~"

Together, they walked to the gym, making amicable conversation. Shirofuku was patient and easygoing enough to take the brunt of all of Lev's eccentricities, while Lev filled the silence with all sorts of topics, though he made sure to lament about his situation every ten seconds or so.

"Well, tall fry," Shirofuku said as they approached Gym Five. "Food is always nice, but volleyball... is definitely worth giving a shot." She pushed the doors open, grinning that fox-like grin of hers. "Why don't you just see for yourself?"

Lev's breath caught in his throat as he watched Kenma set, three other players seemingly running in for the ball at once. In the end, the blond mohawk guy—Yamato? Yamomo? Ah, _Yamamoto!_—slammed it down the line, whooping.

"Put 'em here!" Yamamoto yelled, holding up his hands to Kenma for a double high-five.

Kenma blinked at him before lifting his arms languidly.

"So this is volleyball?" Lev murmured as Kuroo grabbed Yamamoto by the collar when he kept harrassing Kenma to give him a proper, hearty high-five.

"It's cool, isn't it~?" Shirofuku smiled up at him. "Just wait till you see _my_ team play. Our captain is... _loud_, but he's pretty amazing."

"Captain? Like Kuroo-san? Captains are pretty cool, huh?"

"Yep."

"That's it, then!" Lev declared. "I'm gonna make my own team, too!"

"... What?"

* * *

It was Thursday night when Nagano yawned as she walked back to her apartment, fishing through her purse for her keys. Her glasses were slipping off her nose when she caught sight of a new poster stuck onto a telephone pole. "What's this...?" She deadpanned at the design. "Did a child make this?"

There was an amateur drawing of a person hitting a ball on it, and written in large print was _JOIN THE COMMUNITY VOLLEYBALL TEAM!_

"We have a community volleyball team?" Nagano wondered aloud before going inside the lobby and straight to her mailbox. When she opened it, it was stuffed full, to her horror. "What the hell?!" Copies of the same flyer she had seen outside drifted to the ground and piled at her shoes.

"Ah, you got them, too?"

Nagano whipped around to see Ryoka standing behind her with a drink can and wearing her usual coat, baseball hat, and mask. "Oishi-san! You scared me!"

"Hn."

"Do you know what this is about?" Frantically, the older woman gestured to all the papers on the floor. "Is Udai-san responsible for this?!"

"Hardly. You know he doesn't play anymore." Ryoka picked up one of the papers, narrowing her eyes at it. "If I had to say... This has a Haiba sibling written all over it, and I have a feeling I know which one it is."

"Wow..." Nagano seemed in awe. "That's the most I've ever heard you say at once."

"Hn."

Nagano bent down to pick up the papers, crumpling them all up into one big ball. "I'm guessing it's the brother, then? The sister seems too mature for this kind of stunt."

"No one can call you stupid, Nagano-san."

"Yes, well—do you think anyone else got these?"

"I'm willing to bet the whole apartment did."

"... He's persistent, that's for sure."

"Or just dumb."

Nagano laughed awkwardly. "You really are a blunt one, Oishi-san." She peered down at the giant wad of paper she was carrying. "So... what do we do about these? Just throw them away?"

"Hn. I guess. What's he going do about it anyway?"

"Yes, I suppose you're right..."

* * *

It was barely six in the morning when Ryoka woke up to a knock on her door. She rolled in her futon and decided to pretend that she wasn't home while cursing whoever decided to visit her at this ungodly hour on a _Saturday_.

"Oishi-senpai!"

Her eyes cracked open and twitched as a very grating voice reached her ears.

"Oishi-senpai, get up, we have a practice match!"

"Oh, _fuck_ no," she muttered, groaning and burying her face into her pillow.

"We can play against Nekoma today to see who's the better team!"

_Team?! What team?! Since when was there any team, you obnoxious little bastard?! _Her temper rose more and more as Lev tried every method in the book to try and get up.

Ryoka sat up with a bedhead, her mouth down-turned in immense displeasure. Then she threw her blanket off and opened the window. "Tenma-san!" She reached across and knocked rapidly on his window. "Tenma-san, dammit, I know you're in there! Open up right now before I get carried off for _exercise_!"

* * *

Coach Nekomata was in a bit of a bind. It wasn't unusual for practice matches to be set up with other schools or community teams, but he had never heard of the _Dreaming Poker Heights Community Club _before. Still, he had been approached by an eager white-haired student to _please play against them, it'll be worth it, I swear_, so maybe they were worth playing against.

"Naoi," Nekomata got the attention of his assistant coach, who was typing away on his computer in the staff room, "Take a look at this. Ever heard of them?"

"Dreaming Poker...?" Naoi squinted at the paper. "Can't say I have. But we _are_ free this Saturday. They could be worth playing."

And so they accepted, and it was when the actual team arrived at their gym that Nekomata wanted to bury his face into the crook of his elbow and drink this memory away.

The Nekoma team stared in disbelief at a beaming Lev, who stood at the forefront of a group of sleepy, homicidal-looking people that ranged from very young to very old.

Then Kenma said it all for them: _"What?"_

* * *

_**A/N: Regarding the name of the apartment, it's not uncommon for apartments to have unusual names irrelevant to their location, design etc.**_


End file.
